Example embodiments relate to a relay method and a relay system to relay data using a plurality of relay terminals, and more particularly, to a method and a system to relay space-time block code (STBC) method-based data in a multiuser multi-hop multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) communication network.
In existing well-known multi-hop transmission methods, transferring and exchanging channel information may be important for effective multi-hop transmission.
In general, multi-hop transmission may be given significant consideration in an ad hoc network. However, in the ad hoc network, multi-hop cooperation among end terminals may not be readily performed as compared to a network including a controller, for example, a cellular network. Due to a channel information message exchange overhead and an inconsistency in channel information based on a change in a channel, transferring or exchanging channel information may be a challenging process.
The network including the controller may have a simpler structure for the multi-hop transmission as compared to the ad hoc network, because end terminals are synchronized with one another and resources are allocated in advance for exchanging channel information. However, as the number of users within a transmission range managed by the controller increases, an overhead for transferring and exchanging channel information may also increase.